On Wednesday 28 September, farmers across the Matanuska Valley, in Alaska, were making a final dash to uproot their final harvests of the year.
One of the last vegetables to be plucked out of the ground are Alaskan carrots. That's why crews at Pam’s Carrots in Palmer were in the dirt digging up the last of the orange fingers stuck in the ground.
“We do about 10 boxes a day in the field,” said Brian Bue, who estimated the last of the farm's carrots should be pulled from the fields by next week.
With a hot, dry July and wet, cool August, agronomists with the USDA in Alaska said farmers across Alaska are yielding a "bit better than average" crop.
The harvest expectations have been no different for the carrots on the Bue’s farm. About 400,000 pounds of carrots are expected to be harvested before the soil freezes. This week, that’s more than 12,000 pounds of carrots a day.
“There are a lot of years we’re dealing with frozen ground this time of year, but it’s been warm the last three or four years,” said Bue.
The fresh Alaska carrots aren't expected to last through the winter, with Bue saying the demand will most likely exceed the yield of the 2016 harvest.
Source: ktuu.com